There wasn't much super about the voter turnout in Shelby County for Tuesday's primary election.

Total turnout, according to the Shelby County Election Commission, looked like it would be about 12 percent, or about 72,000 of the county's about 610,000 registered voters -- well down from the 147,677 who voted in the 2008 presidential primaries.

At some polling sites, there were lulls of several minutes without any voters, while voters only trickled in and out at other locations.

"The turnout has been light today," Robert Meyers, chairman of the Shelby County Election Commission, said Tuesday afternoon.

At Davis Community Center on Spottswood Avenue, four voters showed up between 1:25 and 1:45 p.m. In that time, more guys showed up to play basketball at the center, but the voting machines were in the gym.

"We guarantee you the wait is not over 30 minutes," poll worker Bill Fortner joked with one voter, who came in when only one other voter was in the gym.

Meyers said he wasn't aware of any issues with the new law requiring voters to show a state- or federal-issued ID.

There was a tiff between a voter and poll worker at Springdale Baptist Church that caused a bit of a ruckus, Meyers said.

It started, apparently, when a poll worker asked a voter which party's ballot they wanted. The voter said they didn't have enough money to be a Republican and the poll worker replied that the voter would never have money if they kept pulling Democratic ballots, Meyers said.

"That's not the kind of conduct we want to condone on election day," Meyers said. "We reminded (poll workers) that we have to keep our personal views to ourselves."

With about two-thirds of votes counted, it appeared that about 65 percent of Shelby voters were asking for Republican ballots.

At Ed Rice Community Center in Frayser, Democratic Party volunteer Daniel Tyus handed out political fliers to only three voters who passed by between 11:30 a.m. and noon. He got his hopes up every time a car pulled in the parking lot.

"Keep on going, then," Tyus, 22, said, as one van headed for a nearby park instead. " ... I'm just hoping that people come out and vote."

Tavilla McKinney voted at the Frayser community center, the first time she's cast a ballot in Memphis since moving from Chicago last year.

"You don't vote, you got no voice," said McKinney, 44. "My ancestors went through a lot for me to vote."

At about 12:20 p.m., eight voters were casting ballots at Bartlett United Methodist Church on Stage Road.

On her way out of the church, Debora Moore, 60, said she was perplexed by the lack of voters.